With all the helicopter crashes and all

  • itappearsthat [he/him]@hexbear.net
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    14 days ago

    I hear you can still rent private railcars to be hooked up to Amtrak trains, which seems pretty pretty sweet. I guess it was the equivalent of private jets in ye olden times.

    • Evilsandwichman [none/use name]@hexbear.net
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      14 days ago

      90% of the time the geriatric we put up as president wouldn’t be lucid; he’d basically be that old Simpsons character who’s always like “I’m cold and I’m hungry”

      You wouldn’t be able to go 5 minutes without one of the other characters going “He’s taken his pants off again!”

  • SoyViking [he/him]@hexbear.net
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    14 days ago

    The Danish railway museum they have four royal railcars, dating from the beginning of rail transport to 2001 when the latest piece in the collection was taken out of commission and donated to the museum as the queen was gifted the current royal car by the state railways. They are similar to the US car but also very different.

    The similarities are obvious; they are luxurious, decorated lavishly for their time period and have similar facilities but there are also differences.

    The most obvious difference is that they are not as paranoid as the American one. They are not armoured, they don’t have escape hatches and no attempt was made to hide them among other cars, they are clearly identifiable, painted in a special maroon shade and with big coats of arms on the side.

    The difference in ceremony around the American presidency and European monarchies are also reflected in the way to the rail cars are designed. The American president is expected to give the Big Important Speech and consequently his railcar is essentially a huge rolling podium for him to address the masses. The Danish royal cars have no such thing, as royal ceremony rarely have the monarch address the masses, instead they are supposed to disembark the train at a platform to be greeted by local dignitaries and maybe wave to the crowd.

    Another difference I can’t help notice is how the American car is full of branding for the Pullman company. I wouldn’t expect many other countries putting up with their vehicles of state being covered in non-state symbolism like that.